Railroads provide an infrastructure for handling, transporting, and delivering cargo. Railroad operations involve forming, communicating, and storing a large number of records (e.g., relating to the handling, transportation, and delivery of cargo), while respecting the railroad infrastructure (e.g., rails/routes, wayside equipment, and communication networks), train configuration (e.g., individual locomotives, locomotive consists, rail cars, and cargo), and the like.
Currently, a large portion of railroad system related data is entered manually. Manually entered data requires an inordinate expenditure of labor, incurs significant costs, and is especially prone to error. As the railroad infrastructure and cargo volumes continue to expand, problems associated with manually entered data may become exacerbated. Such errors can translate into significant time and cost losses.